Garments are provided for many different service providers and industrial applications where workers are given garments, such as uniforms, protective clothing, or the like, for purposes of personal safety, product safety, cleanliness and many other practical reasons. A service industry exists for delivering clean garments to facilities in many such other industries and services and for subsequently picking up soiled or used garments, replacing them with clean garments, and laundering the soiled garments as part of a cycle. Customers of such a garment service typically purchase or lease a sufficient quantity of clothing articles so that they will have clean garments ready on a daily or other periodic basis to its employees, which quantity takes into account the full processing cycle. As such, the garment service can be laundering one or more garments per employee while each employee is adequately provided with a supply of garments ready for wearing based upon the frequency of the delivery cycle. Typical garments that are provided from such garment services include shirts, pants, smocks, frocks, coats, suits, coveralls, aprons, gloves, headwear and footwear.
The laundering or washing and drying steps of such a garment supply service is normally a selective process based upon the garment to be cleaned. Such selection may include a sorting of the garments to be laundered in different ways based upon factors including colors, durability, and the classification of the dirt or stains on the garments. The selection also applies to wash parameters of any such laundering step, of which, a service may have a number of different wash processes that may be selectively conducted on a selected classification of garments. Basic parameters of a typical selective wash process or cleaning formulation include water temperature, wash time, chemistry and mechanical action. By chemistry, it is meant the use of desired quantities of detergents and other cleaning additives like bleach and alkalinity adjusters. Other chemical solvents or other additives are sometimes added based upon a specific cleaning formulation as desired for a particular stain removal process. Wash time controls include not only the wash time, but also the timing aspects of the chemical delivery and the mechanical action. Moreover, many different types of washing equipment are commercially available with many different mechanical agitation and wash cycles and manners of movement of the garments within the washers during the wash process. In these commercial washing machines, the chemicals that are used as the detergents, bleach, and other additives are typically injected into a temperature controlled water supply to be active within the washing compartment of the washing machine based upon a selected cleaning control process.
The laundering step for a selective class of garments is normally controlled to include the cleaning formulation with the wash timing aspects such as wash and rinse periods and the number and duration thereof. Likewise, the drying of the garments may be controlled for selective drying temperatures and time aspects.
A class of garments is often importantly characterized by the industry within which the garments are used. As examples, coveralls usable within the semiconductor processing industry must be cleaned to remove possible particular contaminants, clothing worn within the automotive repair industry must be cleaned of particular oils, silicone and grease, and clothing worn in certain food processing industries, such as meat processing or dairy production, require the removal of organic matter like blood and dairy stains. As such, a basic wash process is typically modified based upon such a classification to develop a cleaning formulation that will remove the required matter and/or stains by adjusting the chemical detergents, alkalinity, bleach, water temperature, and wash/rinse cycle timing and duration aspects. Moreover, it is known to control one cleaning formulation from another within a washing machine by utilizing a microprocessor having multiple formulations stored within memory and from which a desired formulation control process can be selected.
The food industry is a specialty industry like many others that raises distinct considerations for laundering. Food processing is distinct from most in that food stains or food matter and moisture on a garment can provide the basis for growth of microbes, in particular bacteria, that can be considered contaminants in food processing and potentially cause food safety issues. Thus, cleaning formulations have been developed in particular for the purpose of reducing microbes, and in particular certain bacteria, on garments after laundering and for delivery to customers within the food service industry. The use of organic-killing laundering chemicals, like bleach, wash solution alkalinity, and higher temperature water are known for killing certain bacteria. The food service industry includes food processors like meat, dairy, baked goods and other prepared food producers, food packers and packages, food preparers like bakers and cooks in production facilities as well as in food service caterers and restaurants, food retailers, wholesalers and service providers, including grocery stores and the like.
A typical prior art process for a garment service starts with the delivery of clean garments to a customer and pick up of soiled garments and further includes the steps of transporting the soiled garments back to a processing facility, sorting the garments, washing the garments in accordance with a chosen cleaning formulation, inspecting the garments for need of repair or replacement, and preparing the garments for clean shipment to the customer. For a specific industry, such as food service, the sorting and cleaning formulation wash steps can be specific to that industry, as described above. The step of preparing the garments for the customer is usually based upon customer specifications as to how the garments are to be delivered. Transportation of the garments from the customers to the processing facility is typically done by putting the soiled garments into large bags or slings, or bins, which are then loaded onto trucks. Once the garments arrive at the processing facility, the slings are emptied and the soiled garments are sorted according to a desired classification based upon the way they are intended to be washed. Sorted garments are then typically reloaded into separate slings. Inspection for repair or replacement of garments normally is done after washing and drying process. Required or replacement garments may be subsequently put back into the service cycle for washing and drying. In preparing garments for delivery to the customer, many different post-wash steps are known to be conducted for the purpose of providing the garments to the customer in a desired way. As an example, for wrinkle removal, steam tunnels have been developed so that garments can be hung on hangers and conveyed as they are hung through the steam tunnel. Or, garments may be individually pressed using pressing equipment. The garments may be further folded and packaged or kept on hangers for delivery to the customer. Transportation containers are also known within which the garments can be stored for delivery of the clean garments to the customer.